The document provides feedback on exam questions for an English Literature GCE exam focusing on prose texts. It discusses student responses to two exam questions related to the novels Brighton Rock and A Clockwork Orange. For the first question on the individual struggling to fit into society, responses focused heavily on Pinkie from Brighton Rock and lacked discussion of other characters like Rose. The second question on social and moral corruption saw most effective answers using the given extract as a starting point and covering a range of examples from both novels.

1. Feedback to Centres English Literature GCE Unit 1 - Exam

2. Section C: Prose. Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

3. Brighton Rock (Vintage) and either Lies of Silence (Vintage) or A Clockwork Orange (Penguin) Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

4. Two tasks per text. Candidates choose one. Either a generic task Or a passage-based response. Proposition intended to allow for argumentation and to fulfil the “other reader/s” requirement. It is not the case that candidates are intended to quote at length from critical sources (though some did). Primary text to form the basis of the argument... Secondary text to be used to extend it. No specific “weighting” as to how much of the answer should be devoted to secondary text, but those answers which completely ignored it (as some did) were inevitably self-penalising. Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

5. AO1: 15 marks. AO2: 25 marks. No marks for context. Not a comparative exercise – no marks for AO3. Many candidates met the “extend your argument” criterion impressively, drawing on the supporting text to expand their ideas effectively, rather than just looking at points of similarity and difference in the texts about which they were writing. As with the Poetry, those who simply narrated did far less well. Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

6. “The more sophisticated arguments understood the characters as literary constructs, analysing them from a more intellectual stance. Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

7. 6b: “The definition of key terms was vital...really successful arguments...opened...by considering what is meant by “romantic love”. This gave a much clearer focus...enabling (candidates) to develop beyond the (issue) of whether the novel is a “love story” into an evaluation of the nature of the love.” Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

8. Q7: The - How does the individual struggle to fit into society? question Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 June 2009 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

9. 7a: This was the slightly more popular of the Brighton Rock choices. Candidates seemed to like the proposition, but as elsewhere, they were very keen to agree without any consideration of, for example, whether or not Pinkie really wants to fit in. There were very few discussions of Rose, for example, but when they did appear, they were often good. A colleague remarks:“It was possible to produce a clear developing argument in agreement with the title assertion; however, the most able candidates tended at least to question its validity. One such candidate argued, “Pinkie’s choice of damnation sets him apart from the rest of society, not because he struggles to fit in, but because he refuses to be the same.”” Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel

10. 7b: Primarily, of course, the focus here was social and moral “corruption” and the main points of discussion revolved around Pinkie (Brighton Rock ) & Alex (A Clockwork Orange). There was some good commentary on Rose and, to a lesser extent Ida, but neither of these featured as largely as they might have done. An examiner writes: “Most responses to this title were very successful in using the extract as a starting point, from which they developed their arguments, covering a wide range of examples of corrupt individuals and establishments. Ida proved a popular and fruitful focus in many answers, particularly those which probed the concept of “corruption”, considering whether she was necessarily more corrupt than Rose”. Lies of Silence was, again, under-represented, though there was some sound work on that text, unsurprisingly. Slide 8NEA08 Professional Development and Training from Edexcel - Issue 1 Jan 2010 © copyright London Qualifications trading as Edexcel